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'Explosives, Guns, Knives': Israeli Far-right Groups Call for Violence Against Protesters This Evening [1]
['Sam Sokol']
Date: 2023-03-27
Right-wing WhatsApp groups and social media are buzzing with calls from activists to demonstrate across Israel in defense of the Netanyahu government's judicial coup, with some activists calling on supporters to take up arms – 'tractors, guns, knives' – and attack anti-government protesters.
Protest leaders have turned to the police to ask for protection from far-right activists planning to attack pro-democracy demonstrators.
In response, Israel Police have said that they will send additional forces to secure the protests, as the Shin Bet security service has expressed "significant fears" of far-right attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since called on protesters "from the right and left to act responsibly and not act violently."
In 'The Unapologetic Right,' a group run by well-known far-right rapper The Shadow, one member shared the video of the car ramming against a protester in Tel Aviv, and called to "run them over with a jeep." Another member wrote: "We should go to the [Supreme] Court with gasoline, the Nazis here. Gasoline, explosives, tractors, guns, knives. From today, everything is kosher."
MK Simcha Rothman, chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and one of the drivers behind the judicial coup's legislation, has called on right-wing supporters of the judicial overhaul to protest this evening in support of the government and against any freeze on the legislation.
"They will not steal our elections!" Rothman tweeted as he urged the government's base of supporters to gather outside if the Knesset in Jerusalem with a flag, and "not to give up on the people's choice."
Far-right soccer fan club La Familia has called on its supporters to join a right-wing demonstration in favor of the government’s judicial overhaul outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday evening, vowing to “never to give up the country.”
La Familia, a notoriously racist group which is often associated with anti-Arab racism and supports far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, tweeted that it "will not remain silent anymore” in the face of growing opposition to the government’s plan – which has sparked massive demonstrations across the country as well as a general strike. Police sources said that they are expecting clashes across the country throughout the evening.
In another Telegram group, 'The Jewish Defense League,' called on protesters to "go to Jerusalem and whoever cannot make it, protest in the city [of Hadera]." Other groups called on protesters to block the entries to kibbutzim, traditionally associated with the Israel left. "These shits are blocking the roads. We will keep them in their kibbutz," one member wrote, with plans to hone in on the communities of HaOgen and Gan Shmuel.
La Familia, which began as a Beitar Jerusalem supporters club, has a history of targeting its perceived opponents with violence, especially during the 2020 protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they violently assaulted protesters.
During one protest, members of the group threatened journalists, attacking a cameraman and stopping a Palestinian bus on the road and hit its windows.
Last May, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz recommended examining whether or not to designate La Familia and Jewish supremacist group Lehava as terrorist organizations, after members of both groups were involved in inciting violent clashes including stone-throwing against Palestinians during a contentious nationalist Flag March in Jerusalem.
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[1] Url:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-03-27/ty-article/.premium/explosives-guns-knives-israeli-far-right-groups-call-for-violence-against-protesters/00000187-2298-d4ca-afff-33988fc40000
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